Guided by a star
Fargus dragged the massive body of Tharhack into his bedroom. With all his might he hefted and tossed the holy servant onto the bed. The devout husband reached across the half-orc’s body and pulled free a pair of leather restraints, stained with the blood of previous offerings. The dark color of the sheets concealed the blood stains of prior visitors but not the stench of fetid body fluids. The half-orc properly held in place, Fargus backed away and gave a prayer to Zeus before exiting the room.
A crash of glass from the front porch forced Fargus into a whirlwind of movement as he fled down to the cellar door and unbolted the exterior lock and then ran back up the stairs. Once he had reached the top he turned back to watch two lurching creatures emerge into the short hallway in front of the cellar door. With a smile of recognition on his face, Fargus motioned for the creatures to ascend the steps.
“Hello dear, better hurry. Sounds like your dinner has attracted others who’ve come to feast.”
Two soft thuds of arrow shafts hitting rotting flesh comes from behind Fargus from the front of the house. Startled the innkeeper whipped his head around, the sight of the black skinned demon in his living room frightened the simple man and he shied away from the creature. Retreating a couple of steps down the stairs to the cellar. His heart gripped with fear, he forgot why he had been standing at the top of the stairs to begin with. Then the claw stretched over his face as a searing pain erupted from his neck as his wife sank her ghoulish teeth into her husband’s fresh flesh.
Screams of terror gurgled up from Fargus’ lungs as he tried to pry his wife’s jaws from his neck, then his daughter gouged through his side and broke off a couple of ribs as her hunger for blood would not be denied. Missing her lower jaw, Fargus’ daughter shoved the bones straight down her throat. She caught a few strands of hair and dislodged them from her forehead in her impatience to get sustenance into her stomach. There was no doubt she had died several days and the mockery of life she clung to now was only matched by the debauchery her father engaged in to keep them fed. Fargus’ fragile world went black as the demon fired another salvo of arrows in his direction.
Tharhack became aware of a jostling to his left as his brain determined that he was prone. Tharhack’s eyes flew open as he stared up at a black skinned humanoid shaped man replete with glowing red eyes. Tharhack tried to bring his arms up to shove the thing away only to discover his hands have been restrained to the bed frame. Quickly thinking to save his life, Tharhack shoved his feet up towards the ceiling and knocked the creature off balance on top of his right arm. Twisting and bring his knees up to his chest, Tharhack managed to push the creature off the bed. The demon stood and smiled down at the helpless Tharhack, that action brought a swift boot to the side of the head from the half-orc. Using the slight stagger he gave the demon, Tharhack twisted and bucked against the leathers restraints trying to get them to break.
“Ow Tharhack, that hurt.”
Stunned that his name was known, Tharhack paused in his attempt to escape, “How is it my name is known to you?”
“It’s me, Rebrey.”
“Deceiver! I left my friend dying in a lich’s outhouse. You pervert his memory here now.” Calling forth his divine gift from Kord, Tharhack tears the leather straps from the bedposts.
Now it was Rebrey’s turn to feel enclosed, “wait, it is me. Emthur’s dead, your diamond gift destroyed him from the inside out.”
Tharhack’s rage abated as the truth of the demon’s words rung true in his heart. Tharhack laughed as he gave his friend a bear hug, lifting Rebrey off the floor and squeezing the joy he felt into him. The men spend the next few minutes relating their travels from Emthur’s tower.
“How was it you found me? Surely not by blind luck?” Tharhack questioned
“I asked for guidance from Prometheus and when I looked up there was a new star shining to the northwest. Viewing that as the sign I asked for, I followed it here. After defeating two ghouls on the porch I came inside to check on the building and the rest is history.”
“I am elated to see that you are healed, I ask for your help in finding Gothmog and Charekyal. I fear what has befallen them and my failure to utterly protect them, you or Alriand.” Painful tears of loss fill up the cleric’s eyes as he waxes on the memories of his lost friends and companions.
“I offer all that I am, and the promise that the next time we say goodbye it will be over a victory the likes of which our gods will sing of!”
With so many undead roaming the streets, the two holy men make their way by moonlight down the main east-west thoroughfare of Oester, looking for a temple or church where some holy water may be gained or even scrolls to help combat the creatures. Two blocks away from the inn, they spot the small church. Tharhack looks over the design on the door and raising his hand to point out the deity the church is consecrated to, Rebrey interjects.
“Thor, god of battle. I would think that would be a good sign for our cause.”
Tharhack nods and pushed open the wooden door, revealing the shambling forms of several ghouls as they turn toward the newly arrived food source.
“This place is no longer holy ground.” Tharhack intones with a mixture of anger and contempt
Both men raise their holy symbols and invoke the names of their respective gods. The building reacts to the divine energy and amplifies the power of their turning. Latent Thor energy approves of the use of foreign gods to cleanse his house. The extra power boost causes the ghouls to erupt in a divine shower of fire, embers of their former selves’ burn and wink out as if on a breeze.
More to come, I returned to scene of my initial story hour as I realize all the good things that have ceom from this humble beginning.